Customer Reviews

Past Recall: When Love and Wisdom Transcend Time

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Having recently been detained on a flight from the East to West Coast, I started reading Past Recall and the 3 1/2 hour delay was transparent to me as this compelling story had me transfixed and transported to another place and another time.

As it happens, I know the area of southern France in which the events of the modern-day heroine and her mysterious colleague travel in pursuit of the truth behind the persecution and genocide of a little-known religous sect known as the Cathars. Nita Hughes brings the place alive and makes me want to return and retrace the path of the heroine.

The historical details and elements of suspense are wonderfully balanced and make for an entertaining and educational literary journey coupled with hints of the many charms of the area in wine, cuisine and accommodations. Past Recall would make a terrific play in the style of Tom Stoppard's Arcadia or an HBO miniseries.

It's a fast read, especially since the plot builds to a crescendo and then leaves you wanting more. If your cup of tea is mystery, spritualism, travel, romance and suspense, this is the book for you!

"Past Recall" is a fascinating, thought-provoking tale with an element of the surreal at the intersection of two centuries. Well-researched, well-written, it's not only a good read, but it has all the makings of a hit motion picture. I enthusiastically recommend it.

Nita Hughes' debut novel is a fascinating journey to discover an ancient connection between love and wisdom. It incorporates two stories that are interwoven between the 13th Century and modern day France. We learn about the mystery and magic of the Cathars, an enlightened group of people who were massacred during the Inquisition. We discover that their cultural extinction was justified by those in power because they were said to control a treasure that could transform the world. In the story, this treasure is meant to be rediscovered in today's troubled world, but the same dark forces that tried to extinguish the light in the past are still present on our planet. Their desire to own the secrets create a tale of danger, romance, and spiritual wisdom that keeps the reader spellbound.

There seems to be a theme lately with my interests in books zooming towards the Cathars and the era of the Knights Templar. Nita has captured the essence of the Cathars mystique with her own time travels of switching from present to past portals of experiences. I am ordering her second book to see if she does indeed walk between the veils of the imaginaire and speak their truth for us all. One would question if there is a global awakening occurring with such fascination in the obscure heretical Gnostics called the Cathars. Why I am saying this is another author, Barbara Burritt wrote her own personal saga of past-life recall from this same chapter of mystical power and agonizing persecution. If interested in this theme read her book, Eclipse of Fate...my healing journey through past-life recall.

May this awakening inspire others to spin their own webs from the mystic.

This is an exciting, romantic and educational novel.I was carried along by its excellently crafted plot and at the same time absorbed by the historical details of the Cathar religious movement in Southern France during the Catholic Inquisition. The author has ingeniously combined this thirteenth century drama with a well-drawn, modern love affair, surrounded by a great dose of mystery. In total, a deep and interesting story which not only offers a lot of pleasurable reading but a fascinating look at some real, poignant history.

"Past Recall is a compelling and thought provoking story. Set in Southern France, it blends 13th Century secrets of the Cathar religion with a modern day conspiracy. The insight and passion of the author Nita Hughes is palpable and adds significantly to the felicity of the reader. This enthralling novel is a must to read and I would rate it up there with The DaVinci Code."

Past Recall shines a quantum light upon two eras and how they interlace -- which in itself makes for a solid, enjoyable exploration of history; the persecution of this unique sect of Christianity, and the later archaeological intrigue of investigating the lives of those who went through such persecution.

The storytelling is, much like the philosophy of the Cathars themselves, dualistic. It shuttles between these timelines with an elegant beauty. Yet in unearthing the legacy of the Cathars, it showcases the horror and hypocrisy of the Church's handling ("Thou Shall Not Kill, anyone?") of this heretical sect. Author Hughes demonstrates a contagious enthusiasm for the Cathars -- their lives, philosophy, secret meetings in shadow, and the timeless sorrow of a people hunted and destroyed by a tyrannical religious regime. Hughes has done the Cathars justice.

I wish I could rate this book 4 1/2 because it is that close to the highest rating. The character development was outstanding. The flow of action never stopped. If ever an author could be said to have done her research, it's Nita Hughes. The Cathar period was relatively brief, and its eventual demise is a lesson in courage and devotion to their ideals. It does not, however, deal kindly with Papal infallibility, and the Inquisition in general. The final chapters are both sad and exciting.

I am sleep deprived because I read at night, and I cannot put down Past Recall! This book has it all: history (I'm learning something); romance (I can daydream); adventure (a real page-turner); and, at least to my way of thinking, a satisfying sprinkle of metaphysical mystery, (although that may not be what the author intended).

This fascinating and well-researched novel has it all. Rather like reading the plat du jour in a French restaurant; Hughes serves up history and romance as titillating hors d'oeuvres, followed by a main dish of intrigue marinated in the conspiracies of 13th century France, and finally sweetened with a sprinkling of magic wherein the human spirit triumphs over mind, time, and religious dogma. A taste of the divine...